Learn the history of NASA's exploration of the universe and its many discoveries about our home planet. This is the NASA History Office's official page.
Share our passion for aerospace history!
Mission: NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.
Operating as usual
9 years ago today, the Curiosity Rover launched aboard the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft! Curiosity is still journeying across the Martian surface, making new discoveries every day. Take a look through Curiosity's eyes here: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/panoramas/?page=0&per_page=25&order=pub_date+desc&search=&category=304%2C305%3A176&url_suffix=%3Fsite%3Dmsl
In 2014, the International Space Station's 3-D printer manufactured the first 3-D printed object in space! The object, pictured here, is a printed faceplate engraved with names of the organizations that collaborated on this 3-D Printing in Zero-G Technology Demonstration: NASA and Made In Space, Inc., a space manufacturing company. NASA Astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore installed the printer on Nov. 17 and conducted a series of calibration tests. On Nov. 25, he removed the completed part from the printer. This experiment demonstrated how 3-D printing can be used to create a variety of parts and tools in space.
Watch the 3-D printer at work here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BAy2fiBElU&feature=emb_title
Our Landsat satellites help track changes to Earth's surface, and they can also give us a new perspective on our history! In this 2016 image of the Tafilalt Oasis in southeastern Morocco, we can see the paths of underground waterways that date back to the 14th century. These channels, called Qanats, have transported water to nearby towns and villages for several centuries, and about half of the 69 channels in Tafilalt are still used today!
In 2017, NASA Ames scientist Dr. Cindy Schmidt created the Indigenous People’s Capacity Building Initiative, a program that collaborates with Indigenous communities using satellite data for natural and cultural resource management. Working with her colleague, Dr. Amber McCullum, Schmidt developed the program as a resource to assist tribal communities with issues related to climate change, forestry and water management. Schmidt and McCullum regularly attend on-site meetings with tribal officials around the country to better understand the unique needs of each community and how NASA's satellite data can be most useful.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/blending-science-and-tradition-sharing-remote-sensing-technologies-with-indigenous
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
A member of the Cherokee nation, Mary Ross wasthe first female engineer at Lockheed. After teaching science and math in rural Oklahoma during the Great Depression, she pursued a Master's degree from the University of Northern Colorado. By her graduation in 1937, she had taken every astronomy class the school offered.
In 1942, Ross was hired as a mathematician at the Lockheed Corporation. She worked up the ranks, and was selected as one of the original 40 Skunk Works team members, a super-secret group that researched advanced and novel aerospace systems for the US government. Many papers published by the group are still classified. Ross was one of the authors of the 1970 NASA Planetary Flight Handbook Vol. III, which featured trajectory plans for space travel to Mars and Venus.
Image Credit: “Ad Astra per Astra” Portrait of Mary Golda Ross, by America Meredith, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40", 2011, from the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian.
#HappyBirthday to astronaut Eileen Collins! A talented pilot, Collins was selected as an astronaut in 1990, and soon became a pillar of the Space Shuttle program. In 1995, she became the first female Shuttle Pilot during STS-63, also the first flight of the new joint Russian-American Space Program! In 1999, Collins became the first female Shuttle Commander, leading the mission that deployed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory to study phenomena like quasars and black holes.
In January 2005, NASA representatives met with a group of Navajo educators and leaders. Two days of discussion led to the birth of the "NASA and the Navajo Nation" project, an educational initiative formed under the guiding principle of a "dual-learning environment"—one that encourages the freedom to explore both scientific and cultural ways of knowing. After this initial meeting, a project team of NASA scientists, Navajo Medicine Men, and educators from both communities began work. The team developed two educator guides which have supported a variety of workshops, camps, and outreach programs over the years. Learn more:
https://go.nasa.gov/2UGMOTn
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
The “NASA and the Navajo Nation” project began with a simple question: is the Navajo Nation interested in partnering with NASA on educational initiatives? Despite it’s simplicity, this was a revolutionary approach by a federal agency toward working with a Native American community. We are stil...
Today in 1967, the Surveyor 6 spacecraft hopped up and down on the Moon. Near the end of its mission measuring lunar surface chemistry, the craft briefly fired its engines, rose about 4 meters into the air, and landed around 2.5 meters away. This was the first ever successful liftoff from the lunar surface, less than 2 years before humans landed on the Moon.
In the days before the hop, Surveyor 6 took these pictures of its surroundings, which have been assembled into panoramas.
Join us tomorrow (November 18) for an exciting presentation!
On Wednesday, November 18th at 12:00pm ET, photographer Roland Miller will be presenting a talk titled: Interior Space: Preserving the History and Culture of the International Space Station through Photographic Interpretation”
Join us next week!
Researchers in NASA's Hyper-X program sought to validate key propulsion and other technologies for air-breathing hypersonic aircraft. Unlike rocket-powered vehicles like the Space Shuttle, scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) powered vehicles do not have to carry their own oxidizer. As a result, aircraft can be smaller and lighter, or be the same size but carry more payload.
Years of research culminated in the record-breaking flight of the X-43A scramjet #OTD in 2004. About an hour before the flight, X-43A Monitor Station Operator Brad Neal, pictured here, performed final checks and pre-flight preparations. The aircraft achieved hypersonic speeds above Mach 9.6, or about 7, 000 mph!
On this day in 1971, Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars, beating the Soviet Mars 2 spacecraft by two weeks despite having launched 11 days later. When Mariner 9 arrived, the planet was engulfed in a massive dust storm, obscuring its surface for weeks to come.
After waiting out the storm, Mariner 9 transmitted over 7,000 images of the Martian surface back to Earth. The images included surface features likely formed by liquid water, such as the channel Nirgal Vallis shown below. These discoveries transformed the predominant scientific view of Mars from geologically inert, to a place that was geologically active. The exploration of the Red Planet continues today with NASA's Perseverance Rover, which will search for signs of ancient life once it lands on Feb. 18th, 2021.
On Wednesday, November 18th at 12:00pm ET, photographer Roland Miller will be presenting a talk titled: Interior Space: Preserving the History and Culture of the International Space Station through Photographic Interpretation”
Join us next week!
54 years ago today marked the final flight of the Gemini program, Gemini XII. At this point in the space program, NASA astronauts had successfully performed rendezvous and docking, changed orbits, and spent two weeks in space. However, they had yet to master a crucial ability: spacewalking. Looking toward the future, NASA knew that mastering spacewalks would be necessary to achieve the goal of landing the first humans on the moon before the end of the decade. As a result, the primary objective of Gemini XII was to solve the problems of working outside a spacecraft.
On November 12, 1966, astronaut Buzz Aldrin performed a stand-up spacewalk, during which he installed a handrail that would assist his movements during the full extravehicular activity (EVA). Aldrin also took what he called "the first space selfie." The next day, Aldrin successfully completed a two-hour, nine-minute spacewalk. Commander Jim Lovell photographed Aldrin as he worked with electrical connectors on the Agena spacecraft.
The spacewalking problem was solved!
The first episode of Sesame Street aired today in 1969! Sesame Street has built a legacy of accessible and imaginative education, and has collaborated with NASA many times to celebrate the joy of learning and the wonder of space. Today, we celebrate two of our favorite bits of Sesame Street space history!
In 1984, Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, appeared on three Sesame Street, including counting down from 10 and talking to a group of kids about what it's like to go up in space.
In 2011, Elmo visited Kennedy Space Center in Florida to talk to the astronauts of STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Elmo toured the Center and interviewed astronauts like Leland Melvin about space, the shuttle, and what it's like to be an astronaut!
20 years ago, NASA partnered with Native American high school science students to conduct a space botany experiment using synthetic Martian soil. The project, called "Spuds in Space," marked the first test of this soil as a medium for in-orbit plant growth. Students from the Shoshone-Bannock High School on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in southeastern Idaho designed a test to compare plants grown in the simulated dirt on Earth with those grown in space. Their experiment, flown aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-101) was the second time Native American students sent a science project to space. The first experiment, also conducted by students from Shoshone-Bannock High School, flew in 1998 on the Shuttle Discovery. Shoshone-Bannock science teacher Ed Galindo said, "This project has provided Native American students in rural Idaho with hands-on research opportunities and given students a chance to learn about Mars in a fun, educational manner."
Learn more about the project here: https://go.nasa.gov/38dUHrA
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
International conflict and technological development have been entangled throughout history. From their inception, rockets were intended to be used for space travel by their inventor, Robert Goddard. However, in the midst of WWI, Goddard adapted his invention to aid the war effort.
This week in 1918, Goddard and his co-worker, Clarence Hickman, demonstrated their prototype of a rocket-based weapon to the US Army, using music stands as the launch platform. While this precursor to the bazooka was promising, the idea's development was delayed when the WWI Armistice was signed only days later. The bazooka was later used as an anti-tank weapon by the US Army in WWII.
Today in 2002, the Galileo spacecraft flew closer to Jupiter than ever before, passing by the small moon Amalthea and through Jupiter's thin "gossamer" ring. On this close approach, though, it sustained damage from Jupiter's naturally strong radiation, and its instruments and tape recorder shut down.
After a month-long remote repair effort, engineers at JPL located the problem in the tape recorder and managed to repair it from millions of miles away, enabling data on the tape recorders to finally be transmitted to Earth!
Women aviators have been pioneering the field of flight since the early 20th century. Many know of Amelia Earhart, but few know that she was part of an organization of women pilots called the Ninety-Nines. Founded this week in 1929, the Ninety-Nines began as a group of female pilots invited to assemble for the purpose of advancing aviation and documenting women's contributions to the field. This photo was taken during their first meeting, attended by 99 members, hence the name. The group elected Earhart as the first president in 1931. Over the decades, the group has grown into the global organization it is today (The Ninety-Nines, Inc, International Organization of Women Pilots).
Happy #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth! In 2002, astronaut John Herrington made history as the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to travel to space. A dedicated public servant, Herrington received his commission from the Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1984, and he was designated a Naval Aviator the following year. After earning a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, he was selected as an NASA astronaut candidate in 1996. On his historic mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-113), Herrington brought with him the Chickasaw Nation flag and a traditional flute.
With the exciting news last week from OSIRIS-REx making contact with the asteroid Bennu, we take a look back at our past asteroid visits! Today in 1991, we took our first fly-by of an asteroid as the Galileo spacecraft flew by Gaspra on its way to Jupiter. These pictures of the 10-mile-long Gaspra, taken nearly 30 years ago, were our first up-close glimpse of an asteroid.
One of the most reflective surfacesin the solar system, Enceladus shines brightly in the sunlight. This cold moon is constantly coated in a layer of white ice as it orbits around its parent planet, Saturn, whose rings are visible in the background. In 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered the source of this fresh ice: jets of water and gas erupting from fractures in Enceladus's crust. The continuous outbursts of the moon's global ocean generate a halo of ice dust that maintains Enceladus's frozen surface and also supplies material to Saturn's E-ring.
On this day in 2015, scientists wanted to learn more about the composition of Enceladus's icy plume and the ocean world underneath. They sent Cassini on a daring flyby, bringing it within 30 miles (48 kilometers) of the surface. Learn more about the mission: https://go.nasa.gov/3oCu3yc
Today is the day! Join us!
On Wednesday, October 28th at 12:00pm ET, Bill Ayrey, formerly of ILC Dover, will be presenting a talk titled: "Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit"
Join us next week!
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MTE0ZTkyYWQtYzE5YS00YjE2LWFkYTAtNmE1M2RlYjVhNmFl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%227005d458-45be-48ae-8140-d43da96dd17b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22da57e8cc-0173-401b-8402-7cf30a4131e4%22%7d
Discovered in 1807, Vesta is the second most massive body in the main asteroid belt, only less massive than the dwarf planet Ceres. This giant, rocky asteroid accounts for nearly nine percent of the total mass of all asteroids. But unlike most other known asteroids, Vesta has separated into crust, mantle, and core. To investigate this unusual feature, NASA's Dawn mission was sent to visit Vesta, orbiting the asteroid from July 2011 to September 2012.
The Dawn mission discovered that Vesta formed within 1 to 2 million years of the birth of the solar system, during a period when radioactive material was incorporated into newly-formed bodies. The heat from this material melted Vesta, causing its components to separate by density, with denser matter sinking to the core and less dense matter rising to the crust. Learn more about Vesta: https://go.nasa.gov/3kCPywJ.
ESA - European Space Agency 's Planck space telescope mission was to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the radiation left over from the Big Bang. Launched in 2009, the spacecraft spent nearly 4.5 years surveying the sky until its mission came to an end #OTD in 2013. Planck completed five full-sky surveys with its two main instruments, surpassing the original mission goal of two. Data from the mission provided a more accurate recipe of the Universe's ingredients: normal matter (which makes up stars and galaxies), dark matter, and dark energy (a mysterious force accelerating the expansion of the Universe). Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/31BHwwr
Today in 1975, USSR craft Vanera 9 sent the first pictures from the surface of another planet. The craft was launched in June, arrived in Venus' orbit on October 20, and its lander touched down on the 22nd. It took atmospheric data (on temperature, chemical makeup, pressure, and more) and took a 180-degree panorama of the ground around it, before losing contact 53 minutes later. This is our view of what it's like to stand on another planet!
After landing on the Moon in 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts returned to Earth with lunar rocks and soil. Researchers at NASA Ames tested these samples for evidence of life. Chemists like Audrey Miyamoto, pictured here, prepared Apollo lunar samples to analyze for amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Although they found no signs of life, their work represented the first time that NASA searched for the possibility of life beyond Earth using samples from another world.
Hidden Figures Way
Washington D.C., DC
20546
If you're looking for the official source of information about the NASA History Office, please visit our page at www.nasa.gov/history.
| Monday | 09:00 - 17:00 |
| Tuesday | 08:30 - 16:30 |
| Wednesday | 08:30 - 16:30 |
| Thursday | 08:30 - 16:30 |
| Friday | 08:30 - 16:30 |
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when NASA History posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to NASA History:
On October 15, 1929, the movie Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon) premiered in Berlin. This collaboration between Thea von Harbou, whose novel the movie was based on, and her then husband Fritz Lang, included one of the most accurate early representations of rocket launches (shown here, via the Smithsonian). This was likely because the filmmakers consulted engineers like Hermann Oberth, but some also speculate that this image of spaceflight had some influence on later designs for actual spaceflight. Regardless, it helps remind us that science fact and science fiction have always been close friends.
Because of the Moon's lack of surface-recycling erosion, tectonics, and volcanism, the lunar surface is littered with impact craters, some billions of years old. This week in 1967, the Moon gained 3 new, small craters. But the impactors weren't meteorites: they were of human origin. Lunar Orbiters 2, 3, and 4, intentionally crashed into the lunar surfact on Oct. 11th, 9th, and 6th, 1967, respectively. Evidence of their impacts still mar the surface of the Moon today. The Lunar Orbiter program sent a total of 5 probes to the Moon, each tasked with transmitting photographs of the lunar surface back to Earth. These images were used to identify potential landing sites for the Apollo Program. The probes were highly successful, mapping 99% of the lunar surface with a 60 m resolution. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-the-lunar-orbiter-program/
Are you a student interested in aerospace history? Are you looking for a fall internship? Then get to work! The deadline for NASA History's internship is tomorrow! Read more about the application process here: https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-history-division-student-internships
#OTD (on this day) in 1967, the Venera 4 probe was launched into space from the U.S.S.R. This probe provided an atmospheric analysis of Venus and made history by becoming the first to transmit data from another planet's atmosphere.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Chandra) was born in India when it was a British Colony. He became one of the foremost astrophysicists of the twentieth century. He was one of the first scientists to couple the study of physics with the study of astronomy. Chandra won the Nobel Prize in physics (shared with William Fowler) for work on understanding the structure and evolution of stars. He spent much of his professional life (from 1937 until his death in 1995) as a professor at the University of Chicago. One of NASA's four "Great Observatories", the Chandra X-ray Observatory, was named in his honor, and launched in 1999. For more information check out https://go.nasa.gov/3dQZG15 and https://go.nasa.gov/3fHSCVX
#HappyBirthday to astronaut Drew Morgan! 🎉 🎉 A graduate of US Military Academy at West Point, NY, Drew was trained as an emergency physician in the U.S. Army. He is currently serving aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer. Looks like he is having a good time being "pushed around" in space!
At 7:51 am (ET) #OTD 1968, #Apollo8 launched, sending the first humans into a lunar orbit and proving that a Moon landing was within reach for the United States. The close-up views of the Moon and the distant views of the Earth shared by Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders proved to be profound.
Today, we mark the #Apollo50th anniversary of Apollo 12’s remarkable pinpoint Moon landing. At 1:55am (ET) on November 19th, 1969, #Apollo12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Al Bean landed the Lunar Module, "Intrepid", in the Ocean of Storms on the lunar surface. While the preliminary landing site was projected to be 1000 feet (~0.3 km) from #NASA's 1967 Surveyor III lander, Pete Conrad and Al Bean landed just over 500 feet (~0.15 km) away. Pinpoint landing: Check. Next up: Become the third and fourth humans on the Moon.
Today, we remember Dr. Fred Whipple who was born on this day in 1906. Hailing from Red Oak, Iowa, Whipple was an innovator consistently working ahead of his time. He developed the “dirty snowball” model of comets, concluding that there was ice in a comet's nucleus which vaporized into gas and created the distinctive tail of comets. Whipple also developed an idea of how to protect spacecraft from micrometeoroids and orbital debris. He came up with the idea for this Whipple Bumper, or Whipple Shield, in 1946, over ten years before the launch of Earth's first artificial satellite. When Sputnik did reach orbit in 1957, it caught much of the world off guard, but not Whipple. He had already organized the first group of scientists to calculate the trajectories of then-hypothetical space objects, so he and his team were one of the few groups to make useful observations. Whipple continued working into his 90s, becoming the oldest researcher to have an active role on a NASA space science mission at the time. He passed away in 2004. Many of his theories and inventions are still in use today, and his work has been instrumental in shaping our understanding of space technology. go.nasa.gov/2fdOoXh
Water is a key factor in supporting life as we know it and NASA has found water in some of the most amazing places in our Solar System - including Saturn’s tiny ice moon Enceladus (just 505 km in diameter). While NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Cassini spacecraft zipped around Saturn and its moons between 2004 and 2017, some of its most incredible discoveries were about the small, icy world. Enceladus has a subterranean global ocean of liquid salt water! Even more unbelievable, Cassini was able to examine some of that water, in part because of geyser-like jets that spray water vapor into space through fissures in the fractured surface. #OTD in 2015, Cassini took the mission's “deepest dive” through the plumes approaching just 49 km above the surface, transmitting data about the contents of the water. Find out more about Enceladus and the Cassini-Huygens mission: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7510 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/deepest-ever-dive-through-enceladus-plume-completed https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/science/enceladus/
Today we honor a mission that holds multiple historic firsts for #WomeninSTEM! STS-41G, the 13th Shuttle flight, was the first time in history that two women flew into space at the same time, as its crew included NASA Astronauts Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan. The mission was not Sally Ride’s first rodeo, because she was the first American woman to fly in space (on STD-7 in 1983). But it gets even better! On the 7th day of the flight, October 11th, 1984, Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to spacewalk! Kathy’s historic EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity), with crewmate Astronaut David C. Leestma, lasted 3 hours and 29 minutes. A wonderful perk of living in the era of video is that we can relive these moments in history. So please enjoy watching Kathy become the first American woman to step out of the “comfort” of the Shuttle into the vacuum of space. Note that Kathy is the spacewalker without red stripes on her spacesuit. This was truly #OneGiantLeap!
It's our birthday! On this day, 61 years ago, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration opened for business. On October 1, 1958, NASA inherited five facilities from the NACA: Lewis Research Center in Ohio, Langley Research Center and the Wallops Station rocket test range in Virginia, and Ames Research Center and the High Speed Flight Station in California. That same day NASA assumed responsibility for space projects and appropriations from other government space organizations. As a result NASA started with a staff of 8,240 people (8,000 from the NACA) and a budget of approximately $340 million. T. Keith Glennan, the president of the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio, had already been sworn in as NASA's first administrator. He addressed the new NASA employees (formerly of NACA) in this message (delivered on film back in those days).
“I have been telling him for 13 months that I was a candidate for nothing except retirement on my birthday” - NASA Administrator Jim Webb, commenting on his discussion with President Johnson (Audio below) Are you out there dreaming of retirement? Well, this week in 1968, after 7 years of service, NASA administrator James Webb announced that he would be retiring on October 7, 1968, the day of his 62nd birthday. That is why we have chosen to feature his collection as the first in our new series of posts about the items in our NASA Headquarters Historical Reference Collection. Here at the archives we have collections for each one of the NASA Administrators. These collections contain documents, photographs, correspondence, and audio from their time here. Our James Webb Collection fills up 14 and a half boxes that occupy 4 feet, 10 inches of shelf space. The archival material spans from 1939 to 2003, much longer than his time as Administrator (1961-1968) A few interesting tidbits discovered in the collection: -James Webb’s secretary, Nina Scrivener continued to work for him, even after he left NASA. We have correspondence from Ms. Scrivener on Webb’s behalf all the way up to 1990. -James Webb received numerous notes of congratulations for the success of Apollo 8 sent from all over the world. These notes came after he had retired from NASA. - A note from the Administrator who followed him, Thomas Paine, to James Webb written on a copy of Webb’s Oath of Office which says, “ To Jim Webb, who has signed these cards so many hundreds of times. -Tom Paine” For more, see the James E. Webb Administrator Files Finding Aid:https://history.nasa.gov/PDFs/Finding%20aids/Administrators_Deputy%20Administrators/webb_james_administrator_files_finding_aid.pdf
Fifty five years ago #now (9:25 a.m. EDT), Ranger 7 made a crash landing during the first fully successful U.S. mission in our exploration of the Moon. Although crashing into the lunar surface doesn't seem like it should be called a success, it was done by design. Crashing allowed the probe to get close to the surface and transmit detailed photos back to Earth before its preordained demise. In only 17 minutes, from the time its cameras were turned on to impact, Ranger 7 transmitted over 4,000 images from six different cameras. These photos helped us prepare for human missions to the Moon and improved our understanding of the lunar surface. In honor of the probe's achievement, the area it crashed into was named Mare Cognitum, Latin for “The Sea that has Become Known.” Learn more about the Ranger project: https://go.nasa.gov/2SRtu43
Neil A. Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 mission to land on the Moon, reflects on the successful mission and his experience in lunar exploration. For more information on the Apollo Program, visit https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent more than two hours outside their spacecraft on the Moon. They studied the surface. They collected rocks. After almost a day, they blasted off. They docked with Michael Collins in orbit around the Moon. For more information on their voyage to the Moon and one small step on the lunar surface for all of mankind, visit https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/
On July 20, 1969, humans walked on another world for the first time in history, achieving the goal that President John F. Kennedy had set in 1961, before Americans had even orbited the Earth. After a landing that included dodging a lunar crater and boulder field just before touchdown, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin explored the area around their lunar landing site for more than two hours. When the lunar module landed at 4:17 p.m EDT, only 30 seconds of fuel remained. Armstrong radioed "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Mission control erupted in celebration as the tension breaks, and a controller tells the crew "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again." For more information on the Apollo Program, visit https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/
"Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." This quote from Neil Armstrong, said 50 years ago #now, is probably his second most famous of the mission. (We bet you can guess the other one...) Both statements were spontaneous, and both prompted deep sighs of relief from Mission Control and millions of spectators around the world. But unlike Armstrong's #OneGiantLeap quote, his partner on the Moon was taken by surprise by the status report. Why was Buzz Aldrin surprised? Well, time was of the essence. If anything had gone wrong during landing, Armstrong and Aldrin had only two minutes to discover the problem and decide whether they would leave the Moon. Any longer, and they would have to wait two hours for the Command Module to orbit back around. Every second counted, but it was at this moment Armstrong chose to announce the poetic name of their base. Both Aldrin and CapCom Charlie Duke knew that the base would be called "Tranquility," but did not know when it would be announced. As a result, Duke became tongue-tied at the simple, but beautiful words that have lived on for the past fifty years. #Apollo50th (GIF courtesy of David Woods and the Apollo Flight Journal)
Thanks to David Woods and the Apollo Flight Journal for the fantastic video "Apollo 11: The Complete Descent." This clip explains the mechanics of how we landed on the Moon. Watch the full video on YouTube to see real footage of the landing, corrected for altitude and pitch angle and complete with audio and subtitles from Mission Control. T-2 hours to touchdown. #Apollo50th
#OTD in 1983, the Space Shuttle Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, concluding the mission that made Sally Ride the first American woman in space. STS-7 was a six-day shuttle mission during which a number of experiments were conducted and two communications satellites were deployed. The mission, however, is particularly remembered for its historic five person crew: Commander Bob Crippen, Pilot Fred Hauck, Mission Specialists John Fabian, Sally Ride, and Norm Thagard. Ride was one of six women selected in the 1978 astronaut class (nicknamed “the Thirty-Five New Guys") - the first group of NASA astronauts selected since the 1960s, and the first class to include women and minorities. This mission also made Ride the youngest American astronaut to fly in space (32 years old). She still holds the record. In the words of former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, “Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism — and literally changed the face of America's space program.”
Today in 2008, the Jason-2 Satellite launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) began. OSTM/Jason-2 charts global sea levels with great precision. A detailed record of sea level heights helps us better understand ocean currents, heat absorption, and ultimately, understand sea level rise and climate change over time. The mission is a team effort between NASA and the French space agency, CNES. OSTM/Jason-2 is part of a long-term collaboration with France that continues today with its successor, Jason-3 (launched in 2016). In 2018, the data collected from 25 years of satellite study demonstrated that global sea level rise has been accelerating. Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/2L10Prp
Today in 1970, Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, reentered Earth's atmosphere. The satellite was developed in reaction to the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 in 1957, and was itself launched just three months later in January 1958. Although its batteries died within four months, Explorer 1 remained in space for another twelve years. Then, after more than 58,000 orbits, the satellite made a fiery descent toward the Pacific Ocean as it burned up on reentry. Data obtained by the satellite aided in the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts, and the mission's success changed the direction of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory toward spaceflight, kicking off the American efforts of the #SpaceRace.
“You can tell the world that we have arrived!” 👨🚀 Fifty years ago, Apollo 10 launched to rehearse all the steps and reproduce all the events of the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission, with the exception of the lunar touchdown, stay and liftoff. Blast back to the past:
Sometimes you have to do the unexpected. On May 17, 2009, astronauts Mike Massimino and Mike Good were making the fourth (of five) spacewalks during Shuttle Mission STS-125. This was the last of the Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions, and their primary task on this spacewalk was to remove and replace the electronics card for the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Removing the many screws needed to get to the electronics card was expected to be the big challenge, but space is full of surprises. Mike Massimino discovered that one of the handrails (there to help spacewalkers work on the telescope) was obstructing the path - and a stripped bolt prevented the handrail from coming free. After some deliberation on the ground, Massimino was told to carefully bend and break off the handrail. He did it (see gif below) and the spacewalk was successfully completed.
Twenty years ago today, on April 15, 1999, Landsat 7 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Delta II rocket. Although a problem developed with the imaging system in May 2003, Landsat 7 has continued to provide a steady stream of data (with some gaps) for two decades. It will be replaced in late 2020 by an upgraded model, Landsat 9. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have created the longest continuously-acquired space-based, moderate-resolution data archive. This joint USGS/NASA initiative supports worldwide remote sensing studies and helps land managers and policymakers make informed decisions about our natural resources and the environment. #L7Turns20
On March 22, 1982, Space Shuttle Columbia launched on her third mission - STS-3 - at 11:00 am Eastern Time from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39A. With astronaut Jack Lousma as commander and Gordon Fullerton as pilot, this 8 day mission continued the initial testing of the Space Shuttle. It also marked a number of firsts in the Shuttle Program. This was the first shuttle mission to launch without the External Tank painted white - this saved 272 kilograms (600 pounds). STS-3 was the first, and only, mission to land at White Sands, New Mexico. Every other Shuttle mission landed at either Edwards Air Force Base or Kennedy Space Center. The video below is a clip from NASA's Aeronautics and Space Highlights of 1982.
50 years ago, we tested the capabilities of our Moon landing spacecraft in Earth’s orbit. Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart performed systems checks and gathered data. The Lunar Module and the Command Module separated by nearly 100 miles and an engine burn check brought them back together. A challenging rendezvous and docking proved the abilities of the hardware. This historic mission launched on March 3, 1969 as an engineering mission and paved the way for future Apollo missions.
Pioneer 10, the first NASA mission to the outer planets, was launched on March 2, 1972, from Launch Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral. It garnered a series of firsts perhaps unmatched by any other robotic spacecraft in the space era: the first vehicle placed on a trajectory to escape the solar system into interstellar space, the first spacecraft to fly beyond Mars, the first to fly through the asteroid belt, the first to fly past Jupiter, the first to use all-nuclear electrical power, and the first human-made object to fly beyond the orbit of the outermost known planet in our solar system. Pioneer 10's closest approach to Jupiter was on December 4, 1973, when the spacecraft raced by the planet at a range of 130,354 kilometers and a speed of 132,000 kilometers per hour. Of the spacecraft's 11 scientific instruments, six operated continuously through the encounter. The spacecraft passed by a series of Jovian moons, obtaining photos of Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa (but not Io). Now the spacecraft is generally heading in the direction of the red star Aldebaran, a star that forms the eye of the Taurus constellation. It is expected to pass by Aldebaran in about two million years. In case of an intercept by intelligent life, Pioneer 10 carries an aluminum plaque with diagrams of a man and a woman, the solar system, and its location relative to 14 pulsars. Mission operations were ended in 1997 and our last contact with Pioneer 10 was in January 2003. The attached video is a short clip from NASA's 1972 annual report, released in early 1973.
Around this time every year, all of us at NASA pause to pay tribute to the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger (STS-51L), Columbia (STS-107), the research pilots, engineers, technicians and support staff that have made the ultimate sacrifice in advancing our mission of exploration and discovery. We not only pay tribute to them, but we focus on re-committing ourselves to the lessons we learned at such a high cost. #NASARemembers
This is the NASA History Office's official page. Want to see what we’ve been up to for our first 60 years?
Allegany County Board of Elections
8 Willets Ave, BelmontVeterans Coalition of Orange County, NY
111 Craigville Rd, GoshenDallas Fire Station 18 A Shift
660 N Griffin St., DallasPawnee County Emergency Management
500 Harrison St #104, PawneeAccuScreen Mobile Drug Testing Services
625 West Valley Highway #2, Suite B, Torrington
Coast Guard CPOA Washington DC Chapter
2701 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agenc
633 Indiana Ave NW
